Thursday, March 28

Canada Protests Grow; Australia May Allow Tourists: Virus Update


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(Bloomberg) — Tensions boiled over at protests against vaccine mandates in two Canadian cities as demonstrations that began with frustrated truckers spread across the nation and are threatening to spill into the US Demonstrators are planning a convoy to Washington, DC

Overseas tourists will be allowed to visit Australia by the end of February, after a Covid-related hiatus of almost two years, the Herald Sun paper reported.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker is seeking an appeal of a judge’s ruling temporarily blocking the state from enforcing a mask mandate at dozens of school districts.

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Key Developments:

Virus Tracker: Cases top 392.6 million; deaths pass 5.7 millionVaccine Tracker: More than 10.2 billion shots administeredCDC expands hunt for early warnings of Covid in sewage wasteCovid rebellion brews in Canada, sending warning across globeCovid Zero keeps Beijing Winter Olympics opening a muted affairIs Covid becoming endemic? What would that mean?: QuickTake

Australia to Reopen to Tourists: Report (5:55 pm NY)

Overseas tourists will be allowed to visit Australia by the end of February, after a Covid-related hiatus of almost two years, the Herald Sun paper reported Sunday citing an unnamed senior government source.

An announcement from the government could come as soon as Monday following a meeting of the National Security Committee, the paper reported. Lifting restrictions on international visitors will give a boost to the country’s hospitality sector, which has been ravaged by Covid-related lockdowns and border controls.

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Prior to the pandemic, tourism generated over $120 billion in annual revenue and employed about 5% of the workforce, according to industry body Tourism Australia.

Canada Trucker Protests Widen (5:53 pm NY)

Tensions boiled over at protests against vaccine mandates in two Canadian cities Saturday as a smoke bomb was deployed in Toronto and four men were injured in a hit-and-run incident in Winnipeg.

Toronto police arrested a 22-year-old man on the North side of Queen’s Park after he set off a smoke bomb, officials said in a Twitter post. In Winnipeg, police arrested a 42-year-old man who drove through a group of protesters downtown. Three men suffered minor injuries and a fourth was treated in a hospital and released.

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The incidents come as protests against vaccine mandates and Covid restrictions expanded across Canada this weekend. The protests started in reaction to Canadian and US laws that went into effect in January, requiring truckers crossing the border to be fully vaccinated. They have since morphed into a A rally against Covid restrictions more broadly, and Canada’s “Freedom Convoy” has since been championed by the likes of Fox News and by podcaster Joe Rogan, Tesla billionaire Elon Musk and former President Donald Trump.

US demonstrators are planning to continue the Canadian protests with a convoy to Washington, DC

Illinois to Appeal Ruling Against School Mask Order (1:48 pm NY)

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker is seeking an appeal of a judge’s ruling temporarily blocking the state from enforcing a mask mandate at dozens of school districts.

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Late Friday, Sangamon County Judge Raylene DeWitte Grischow ruled in favor of the group of parents who brought the lawsuit, issuing a temporary restraining order against Pritzker’s executive order requiring districts to mandate masks for students and teachers.

The temporary order also applies to the governor’s order that school districts deny entry for a period of time to students and teachers who are close contacts of confirmed or probable Covid-19 cases if they refuse to test.

Turkey President Erdogan Tests Positive (7:24 am NY)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a Twitter post that he and his wife tested positive for coronavirus.

“We have mild symptoms which we learned to be omicron variant,” Erdogan, 67, said. “We await your prayers.” Erdogan, who is vaccinated, said he would continue to work from home.

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Austria Total Cases Reach 2 Million (7:14 am NY)

Covid cases in Austria since February 2020 reached 2 million on Friday, government figures showed. The second million came in less than three months as a result of the highly infectious omicron variant.

Austria’s Ministry of Health announced that anyone who’s already recovered from an omicron infection will no longer have to quarantine after contact with an infected person, according to local media. The new guideline is expected to help kindergartens and elementary schools, where infections have been running high , and reduce workplace absences.

Street protests were held again Saturday against Austria’s vaccine mandate.

Italy Death Toll Under Scrutiny (6:02 am NY)

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Italy reported 433 deaths from Covid on Friday, in line with the average in the past week, higher than France and the UK and more than twice the number recorded in Germany. That’s despite a high vaccination rate: 84.3% of the population is at least partly vaccinated, according to the Bloomberg vaccine tracker.

Higher deaths in January are still largely due to the delta variant, which was dominant in December, local experts have said. Still, there may be a reporting bias in Italy to count deaths due to other causes as Covid deaths, la Repubblica said, citing virologists including Maria Rita Gismondo of the Sacco hospital in Milan.

Slovenia Deaths Reach Highest in a Year (6:31 pm HK)

Slovenia confirmed 25 deaths from Covid-19 on Friday, the biggest daily toll in more than a year, according to government data. The number of people in hospital with coronavirus infection remains stable at 944, with 133 needing intensive care.

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Hong Kong Reports Record Cases (5:54 pm HK)

Hong Kong reported a record 351 daily coronavirus cases on Saturday, more than double its previous highest daily tally, as the city struggles to contain a fifth wave of infections.

Locally transmitted infections accounted for 343 of the total, Hong Kong health officials said at a press conference. The city’s previous highest number of cases was 164 reported on Jan. 27.

Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan said at Saturday’s briefing that the government will send patients with mild infections to the government-run Penny’s Bay quarantine center as soon as next week to make room for more severe cases in hospitals.

Germany Sets New 7-Day Infection Record (5:11 pm HK)

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Germany’s fast-accelerating outbreak continued on Saturday, with another 217,815 positive cases confirmed and the country’s seven-day rolling average hitting a record of 1,388 cases per 100,000 people, according to the Robert Koch Institute, Germany’s public health authority.

A total of 172 deaths were reported on Saturday, taking the country’s overall number of fatalities to 118,676.

Winter Olympics Cases Accelerate (1:30 pm HK)

China reported a pickup in new Covid-19 cases among those in the country for the Winter Olympics on the day the Beijing games began. Official data showed 45 new cases were identified on Feb. 4, more than double the previous day’s tally and compared to an average of 40 for the latest three days.

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The latest daily infections included 26 new arrivals who tested positive at the airport, and 19 who were already in the “closed loop” that’s cut off from the broader population, the Chinese committee organizing the event said in a statement.

India New Cases Decline for Second Day (12:10 pm HK)

India added 127,952 new daily cases, according to health ministry data on Saturday, declining for a second day. Total deaths climbed to 501,114 after 1,059 were reported in the last 24 hours. Vaccinations rose to 1.69 billion doses in total, data showed.

Biden Calls For Vaccination Push (10:25 am HK)

US President Joe Biden called for a fresh vaccination push after the country passed a “tragic milestone” of 900,000 deaths from Covid-19.

“We can save even more lives — and spare countless families from the deepest pain imaginable — if everybody does their part. I urge all Americans: get vaccinated, get your kids vaccinated, and get your booster shot if you are eligible.”

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